Beldam's Trauma
by intrinsicmotivation
Summary: Many people view Beldam's actions towards Vivian as cruel and unnecessary...but nobody understands the real reason behind her antics... nobody understands her blind devotion to her Queen... OneShot.


"_Vivian, you dog!" the witch snarled, her gloved hands curled into fists. She looked down at a girl, who was cowering beneath the old, parched fingers of an already dead tree. On the sidelines, a plump figure was looking at the scene with seemingly no expression whatsoever._

"_You little #$!" the smallest of the trio yelled, approaching the medium-sized girl threateningly. "You are a freaking fool! How could you kill her?! How?! You were trwitsed by them, weren't you? Well, you were wron gif you thought you could seek refuge with us!!" Her already frowning mouth was somehow further twisted into an even more unpleasant expression, her teeth gleaming menacingly in the little light available. She raised her fist, already glowing with a white fervor._

_Vivian knew what was coming, but could only brace herself against the blow…_

_Beldam, the oldest mage in the Shadow Siren trio, is perhaps the most despised one as well. Her harmful actions towards Vivians, for actions she has never commited, has angered many a person who has heard the story through the video game portraying the tale._

_But Beldam herself has an interesting story…a reason behind the seemingly unincurred wrath…_

_And it started when the Shadow Queen, the most powerful of all Shadow Sirens, the Sovereign in control of most of the world, gave birth to her first child…_

"It's absolutely insignificant!" the Queen wept at the sight of her newborn.

"Now, listen, Elaine-"

"Don't be telling me to listen!" the Queen screamed angrily. "I worked hard in creating this thing! If we are to keep control of our world, then we a good heir is needed from the start! A wimp will not inspire fear! We can not let people believe that our kin is somehow weak – we need strong impressions!"

The Shadow King and Queen were arguing over their first child. After letting their powers culminate, and tending to the orb in which their baby resided, the protection had begun to wear away, revealing their child.

_But their infant was a size far less than the usual size of a Shadow Siren baby; and its appeared to be hunched over in a position that was plain freakish._

_The Queen was far less than ecstatic._

"Elaine…we have to wait until its powers start to develop. Perhaps, for its physical disability, it could have the same abilities we have and maybe even more…" the King said. "We have to give it a name, as well…"

_But it wouldn't get any better in the Queen's eyes…_

_The Baby was identified as being female, and that her hunchback would prove to be a physical disability._

_And worse, the baby's powers were identified prematurely as being the ability to move heat away from objects, and to slowly freeze them, an ability more commonly known as the 'ice' ability. The ability was not the most common among sirens – the most common ability was the ability to create light._

_It was worth nothing to the Queen._

_The child was named Beldam – a degrading name given to her by the Queen, with two meanings – an anagram of 'Bedlam', which is what she beleived would happen were her child to inherit the throne, and the actual word 'Beldam', meaning an old lady, which is what the Queen believed her child would just grow to be._

_Young, innocent Beldam found herself often left alone. Her mother had hired a famous teacher to privately teach her daughter, as her mother decided she may as well be of some use. Beldam was taught by her own mother some spells and the basics of magic and spells, but let the teacher handle the rest. The Queen, however, did not interact with her much. Beldam was given many chores to do…She was always busy cleaning the palace, doing favours for her queen, and everything possible to gain as much as a "Good job." She was very obedient, and knew nothing of any possible heirs, until the day when she overheard her parents talking…_

The small mage held a broom as she wandered the large, empty palace halls. She had finally finished cleaning everything, and wanted to tell her mother. And she had also been able to create a block of ice, t took some time – surely, the Queen would be proud of how quickly she had advanced in her spell-casting studies, and all on her own, as well.

"Queenie! Queenie!" Beldam yelled as she dragged he broom across the floor. She was smiling ear-to-ear (despite her not having ears) and she kept on brushing the stray pale hairs from her ponytail that kept getting in her eyes. "Queenie, I'm getting my hat! Professor said I can get my hat! Que-"

"-let Beldam be the heir," she heard a very familiar voice say…her father's. Beldam stopped at the metion of her name, and looked at the door where she had heard him speak. She walked up to it, and stared at the giant entry.

"Beldam has been studying very hard. She's obedient, and people know her. She's even trusted among her peers. We no longer need fear; everyone loves her and wants to be her. She's also respected-"

"-Only because people believe she's the heir," her mother interfered. "Do you think people are nice to her because they like her personality? I don't see it that way. I see superficial smiles and people waiting to be given favours if she takes over. Knowing her, she'd actually pay back the favours."

_Heir? Super-fish-all? Am I special? _Beldam wondered upon hearing the words. Her father was arguing for her to be something – something special, from what it seemed. And he had noticed her studying a LOT! Oh, how that really made Beldam feel special! Her mom wasn't happy, but once she saw what she had learned, she would be.

"We must try again. Beldam has proven to be of some use, but she can not inherit the throne. She can not be my successor. Perhaps she could do something else, but not Queen," her mother argued. She did not hear her father say anything in response.

_Queen! Daddy thinks I could be Queen! Mommy is worried that I can't do it, but I will show her that I can be Queen! I'll be Queen!_

Beldam was so excited that she dropped her broom as she ran away to her room.

And that was a mistake the Queen didn't tolerate.

_The Shadow Queen's punishments were notorious around the world. She would torture the 'wrong-doers' for as long as she felt like, and left them alone. Many died from her deathly punishments. Beldam was exposed to these punishments at an early age to 'squeeze some use out of her', and a simple mistake, like leaving a broom in the hallway was something that was punishment worthy in the eyes of the Queen._

_The Queen had a different punishment for her today._

"_I've heard you wanted to be Queen," she said, approaching her in her room. "Well, did you think that wanting to be Queen meant that you could just stop doing what you are supposed to?"_

"_It was an accident, Queen!" Beldam begged. "I'm sorry! I was…"_

"_You eavesdropped, and then you felt you could abandon your duties because you heard something you liked. Well, forget it."_

"_You could never be heiress to the throne."_

_Beldam just looked emptily at her, caught in a state of shock._

_  
"We've got a child in progress, and hopefully she will turn out better than you. Quite honestly,I beleive you won't ever amount to anything."_

_Beldam was confused. She had done something wrong, so her Queen was mad and she wouldn't be an heiress. She couldn't believe it…but then she started to think that she was too aloof and that being an Heir, like respect from her mother, was something she would have to earn._

_The witch tried harder than ever to do well, but there were no more talks on the subject. She spent her days alone, as always, and practiced using her ice powers to impress her mother when she could see her. She would make her proud, however impossible that seemed…_

_But she failed. Never again did the Queen speak of that in front of her, nothing was hinted that she could be heir again. But she tried desperately..she at least wanted her mother to love her…her father spoke up for her but was very distant and uncaring. She felt it was her mother's love that would benefit her in the long run…and she tried…_

_But then Marylin was born._

_And the Queen quickly proclaimed privately to people she thought important – so Beldam was obviously left out, that Marylin would be her successor. Her ability was rarer than that of Beldam's – she could control where electrons gathered and could use this to control electricity. _

_Beldam had eavesdropped on the conversation, and she knew from the moment she would never again have the opportunity to be an heir. But respect from her mother was something she still strived for…and so she did not complain when ordered to take care of Marylin…_

_And Beldam, as envious as she was of Marylin, still treated her with love and respect, still doing exactly what her Queen told her…and years passed when something about Marylin was uncovered…_

"What do you MEAN she's retarded?!" Beldam heard the Queen squeal as she listened from behind the door. A doctor had come to inspect Marylin, and the Queen and King were shocked at his news.

"We can not have her as an heir. She could not even command our forces! Beldam would be a far better choice, Elaine," the King proclaimed smoothly, trying to coax the Queen into accepting Beldam as an heir, but she wasn't listening.

"My children come out all wrong! Beldam was all hunchbacked and now Marylin is retarded! Why can't anyone take my place?" the Queen yelled at no one in particular. Beldam cringed when she heard the Queen comment on her. She may have been physically odd, but she still worked to please her Queen…

"I am very sorry, my Queen and King. It is a shame that she can not think like others…her abilities could have been quite useful and powerful… I am sincerely ashamed that I had to bring you such pain…" he said.

"You may leave," the King said quietly. From the scooting noises made, Beldam assumed that he left quite quickly.

"Lehvos, what shall we do? I hear news of an uprising against us...we must have an heir ready and trained. We grow older each day…our power slowly wanes…we can not keep producing children like this…" the Queen explained miserably.

"I agree….we could only try at least one more time before any more attempts would kill us…it would be unwise to give up our energy to something that has no guarantee of survival..."

_And so, Beldam was no longer reminded to care for Marylin. No one had any obligations to tend to her. It was almost as if she was being erased from existence. Shehad already learned how to hover on her tail, but she looked a bit plump…and she never said much anyways…_

_Even though Beldam had no obligations to her, she still helped her with whatever she had to help her with. She helped her devlop her electric abilities, she taught her things even if Beldam was unsure Marylin would understand. Beldam did it out of pity, out of sympathy that her Queen was so tough on her…Beldam tried to teach Marylin about how great her Queen was, but she did not understand…_

_And the final child, Vivian, came out of the casing._

_The doctors said there was nothing wrong with her, she had the most powerful and rare ability among Shadow Sirens other than her parents – the ability to control fire. As inspections came often, Vivian was proven to turn out to be a child who would be intelligent and who had no physical hurtles to overcome. _

_The Queen was ecstatic, and Beldam wasn't even offered to care for Vivian. She was kept tended by 'professionals', and Beldam grew jealous of Vivian, who was just what the Queen wanted. All her affection was poured onto the infant, and Beldam was furious._

_But she was given a task by the Queen…the Queen said that were she to be trapped by the four 'heroes', that she be trapped behind her own door, that Beldam find the Crystal Stars to open the gate, a 'pure-hearted maiden' for her to possess should her physical form be destroyed, and wait one thousand years for the seal of the heroes to weaken and for the Queen to come back.She also said to keep Vivian alive…and she was strabegly vague on this one…_

_What the Queen predicted happened – the powerful Shadow Queen met her demise, and her spirit – the only thing the heroes failed to eliminate - was sealed into a box by the heroes. The Shadow King was easy to defeat – he was unable to fight without his Queen, and he lost any urge to live, and was killed – spirit as well._

_And her species and kingdom slowly died out…it is unkown if survivors other than her children remained…_

_But Beldam kept on following her orders… she kept on thinking that one day, the Queen would come back and she would finally realize how great Beldam really was…_

_But it would be impossible._

_The heiress to the throne, Vivian, killed off her own mother, the Queen, and all of Beldam's hopes died._

_Vivian never seemed to care about the Queen… and Beldam, who knew some of the Queen's punishments, took it all out on her…Marylin could only stand on the side…for although her bulk made her strong, she was unable to decide whose side she was on…_

Beldam and Marylin had left Vivian in the dreaded forest, all hurt and alone. They were able to find their way to the town that was nearby, and they lingered around the Inn…

_Vivian is so lucky and she doesn't even know it. She has everything I wanted, and yet she doesn't care. She killed off her own mother, whom she never gave a damn about…_

_The ungrateful dog._


End file.
